This book started as a Kickstarter project. The idea of writing a
book and making it freely available, under a Creative Commons license,
was largely inspired by the writings of Cory Doctorow and Lawrence
Lessig. Their message of sharing resonated very strongly with me.
I’m not interested in capitalizing on my knowledge of Modelica, I want
to share it with others so they can experience the same joy I do in
exploring this subject. Happily, this Kickstarter project was
successfully funded on December 4th, 2012 and my odyssey to create an
entire Creative Commons licensed book began. If circumstances had
been different, this book would probably be dedicated to Cory Doctorow
and Lawrence Lessig for inspiring me to take on this project.

But this book isn’t dedicated to them. Instead, it is dedicated to
Aaron Swartz. Aaron was without a doubt a wunderkind. At the age
of 14, Aaron participated in the development of the RSS standard. He
went on to start his own company, Infogami, that was eventually
acquired by Reddit. Along the way, he worked on the Creative Commons
License and fought against Internet censorship. He was both brilliant
and successful yet he was also altruistic and cared deeply about
technology and the future of mankind. He had countless qualities that
I admire and aspire to. But on January 11th, 2013, Aaron Swartz took
his own life.

Barely a month after the successful funding of my Kickstarter project,
Aaron Swartz was dead at the age of 26. It is astounding what Aaron
managed to accomplish in his young life and it makes his death all the
more tragic to think of all the good he could have done with the rest
of his life. Aaron, despite being almost 20 years younger than me,
had helped blaze the trail for me, this book project and, ultimately,
those reading this book through his work with RSS, Creative Commons,
the Internet, and so on. It was heartbreaking that just as this
project started, his life ended. I resolved then to dedicate this
book to him.

This book is dedicated to Aaron Swartz in an attempt to keep his
memory and, more importantly, the things he stood for alive. Over a
year has past since he died but I haven’t forgotten Aaron Swartz and I
hope this dedication reminds people what he stood for. We need to
learn from this tragedy and make sure our governments understand that
people like Aaron Swartz, while perhaps passionate and overzealous,
don’t deserve to be prosecuted and treated like criminals. They
deserve guidance and coaching on ways to channel their abundant
energies and talents to help society.

“Aaron dead. World wanderers, we have lost a wise elder. Hackers
for right, we are one down. Parents all, we have lost a child. Let
us weep.”